"That, to me, was a meaningless photo opportunity," Cornyn told Bloomberg News about the meeting at the White House yesterday at which healthcare providers and insurance companies agreed to suppress its costs by $2 trillion over the next 10 years.

"It's a farce to say we're going to somehow save $2 trillion off of additional increases in healthcare over the next 10 years by voluntary compliance," Cornyn said Tuesday.

Cornyn said that the billions of dollars spent yearly by Americans on healthcare should be spent more efficiently, which he alleged the administration's announcement fails to achieve.

"I didn't hear anything that was suggested yesterday that would allow us to do that -- only these sort of vague, unenforceable promises," he argued.

The Texas lawmaker, who heads Senate Republicans' campaign efforts in 2010, also downplayed the effect GOP skepticism of the plan might have at the polls next fall, repeating talking points about how Republicans are seeking to "maintain the sacred relationship between patients and their doctors."